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Monday, 9 November 2015
Myanmar election: Aung San Suu Kyi's party heading for decisive victory
Opposition NLD party says it is on track to win over 70% of seats as election results start to come in across the country
Supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi’’s National League for Democracy party
cheer as they watch the election results on a screen in Mandalay.
Photograph: Olivia Harris/Reuters Oliver Holmes in Yangon,
Myanmar’s opposition NLD party, led by Aung San Suu Kyi,
says it is on track to win more than 70% of seats in the country’s
historic election – a tally that could sweep it to power and end decades
of military dominance.The National League for Democracy’s hopes of a decisive victory
increased as Myanmar’s election commission began to release results from
across the country.The NLD won all 32 out of the first 32 seats announced for Myanmar
lower house, plus three out of four seats for the regional assemblies,
prompting celebratory scenes among supporters outside party headquarters
in Yangon.
— Kevin Doyle (@doyle_kevin)
November 9, 2015
As results come in, NLD supporters cheering and clapping #Yangon #myanmar pic.twitter.com/g7cKjTgRRY
A total of 498 seats are being contested in the upper and lower
houses of Myanmar’s parliament. More results are expected to be
announced throughout Monday. “We will win a landslide,” Nyan Win, a
party spokesman, told the Associated Press.
Aung San Suu Kyi earlier hinted at victory in Myanmar’s first free elections for decades, despite an unexpected delay in the release of the results.
Aung San Suu Kyi earlier hinted at victory in Myanmar’s first free elections for decades, despite an unexpected delay in the release of the results.
“It is still a bit early to congratulate our candidates who will be the winners,” she said. “I want to remind you all that even candidates who didn’t win have to accept the winners, but it is important not to provoke the candidates who didn’t win to make them feel bad.”
A big crowd of NLD supporters had gathered on Sunday evening in Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon under the British empire, to cheer, dance and wave red flags.
As many polling stations counted into the early hours of Monday morning, there were signs the NLD was set for a convincing victory. Htay Oo, the acting chairman of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development party, conceded that his party had lost more seats than it gained. “We have a higher percentage of losses than wins,” he said. “The results are not yet official but we accept any outcome,” he added.
House speaker and former ruling party chair Shwe Mann conceded defeat in the central Bago region. Other districts showed NLD gains although it was hard to tell if they represented the rest of the country.
The official Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper ran its Monday headline as “Dawn of a New Era” and said turnout was estimated at 70%, with 30 million eligible voters.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent much of the past quarter-century under house arrest, is barred from the presidency by a junta-drafted constitution.
A key concern, that the army generals would annul the vote as they did when the Nobel peace prize laureate won a landslide in 1990, was rebuffed in the capital, Naypyidaw, where military commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing said there was “no reason not to accept the election results”, according to state media.
Labelled an “outpost of tyranny” by the US only 10 years ago, Myanmar has carried out reforms, releasing most political prisoners and allowing an independent press to operate. However, elections in 2010, in which current president Thein Sein came to power, were widely dismissed as a sham.
Yet concerns over fairness were raised ahead of election day, with an estimated 4 million Burmese living abroad unable to vote and the exclusion of around a million Rohingya Muslims, a stateless and persecuted minority.
The army has also enshrined its power in the constitution – reserving 25% of parliament seats – keeping the most powerful ministerial portfolios and banning Aung San Suu Kyi from the presidency as she has foreign family members. Her late husband was a British academic and she has two British sons. Pinterest
Many in the country are worried about the post-election period, when Aung San Suu Kyi — who boldly announced last week she would be “above the president” — will negotiate power-sharing with the military.
Thai security forces along the Myanmar border, where multiple ethnic conflicts have raged, have been put on alert in preparation for violence following the election, the Bangkok Post reported in neighbouring Thailand.
Polls were cancelled in nearly 600 village areas, mostly in the conflict-affected states of Kachin and Shan, the election commission said, adding that a lack of security would not allow for transparent polling.
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, said in a statement that the election was an important step forward, but added it was “far from perfect”.
“A peaceful post-election period is crucial for stability and maintaining the confidence of the people in the credibility of the electoral process and the overall political transition,” he said.People stand in line at a polling station in North Okkalapa near Yangon on Sunday. Photograph: ZUMA Wire/REX Shutterstock
As the army is guaranteed blocs in parliament, the NLD must take 67% of all contested seats in order to gain a majority. If the party succeeds and forms a government, it will be the first democratically elected administration since the early 1960s.
Aung San Suu Kyi has promised to amend a constitution she has denounced as “very silly”.
The incumbent USDP would need far fewer seats as it is backed by the military. Ninety-one parties have contested the election in a country of about 51 million people.
Myanmar Vote Has Aung San Suu Kyi’s Party Confident of Landslide
YANGON, Myanmar — The opposition party of the Nobel Peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said Monday that it was confident of a landslide victory in the country’s landmark nationwide elections, while the ruling military-backed party acknowledged its poor showing.
“Nationwide
we got over 70 percent,” said U Win Htein, a senior member of Ms. Aung
San Suu Kyi’s party, cautioning that the results were not yet official.
But, he added, “We can call this a landslide victory.”
The
first official results released on Monday afternoon showed the
opposition nearly sweeping seats in Yangon, the country’s largest city.
Even a torrential downpour did not dampen the spirits of a crowd of
opposition supporters, who cheered and sang as they watched the results
on a giant TV screen outside the party’s headquarters here.
Across the country, a number of powerful members of the military establishment in Myanmar conceded defeat, including former senior military officers who were among the most prominent members of the ruling party.
Anticipation in Myanmar
Opposition followers celebrated while votes were being counted on Sunday in Yangon.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS and REUTERS on Publish Date November 8, 2015.
Photo by Adam Dean for The New York Times.
Watch in Times Video »
“You
should never underestimate the people’s desire,” said U Khin Maung Yi, a
member of the opposition who defeated a powerful incumbent, U Htay Oo,
the chairman of the ruling party, for his seat in the Irrawaddy Delta.
“It is clear that people voted for us because they believe we can bring
hope and change for them.”
Thura Shwe Mann, the speaker of the lower house of Parliament and a former general, also lost his seat.
“Nationwide,
we won in some parts, and we lost in some parts,” Mr. Htay Oo, the
ruling party leader, was quoted as saying in the Burmese news media on
Monday. “But we had a greater share of losses.”
If
the results of Sunday’s election are respected by the current
government and the military, it will be the first time in more than five
decades that voters in Myanmar were able to choose their leaders
freely.
The
election was primarily a contest between the military elites and the
democracy movement that the former generals persecuted for more than two
decades. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest for 15 years
while the military was in control, emerging as a national democracy
hero. The election has unleashed a flurry of emotion among her
supporters, many of whom were jailed during military rule. Voting was
largely peaceful.
Although
official results may not be complete for days, analysts said the
election appeared so one-sided that it seemed that Ms. Aung San Suu
Kyi’s party could win a majority in Parliament, which would allow it to
choose a president and pass laws without any need for support by the
military or its political wing, the Union Solidarity and Development
Party.
Under
the current, military-drawn Constitution, a quarter of the seats in
Parliament are appointed by the military, so her party would have to win
two-thirds of the contested seats to have a majority.
Ms.
Aung San Suu Kyi was cautious in her comments to reporters on Monday,
but she seemed to hint at big gains in the election, saying voters had
“already understood” the result.
“The loser must face the loss bravely and calmly, and the winner must be humble and very magnanimous,” she said.
The
picture was less clear in ethnic minority areas, which may be important
in the selection of a new president early next year if Ms. Aung San Suu
Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, falls short of a
parliamentary majority. The party said it had filed complaints about
irregularities from those areas, where results are expected in the
coming days.
Party
officials said their preliminary results showed that they had swept
most seats in the delta, which is heavily populated and politically
important.
Voters
in the delta displayed a reflexive affection for Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi,
who is the daughter of the country’s independence hero.
“Of
course we love Mother Suu,” said Daw Kyi Kyi Htay, a 39-year-old rice
farmer who lives in an impoverished rice farming village. “I can’t give
you a reason. I just love her.”
There
were signs that Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s popularity had also carried over
into ethnic areas, such as the upland states of Kachin and Chin, where
local loyalties have often trumped national ones.
Cherry
Zahau, a candidate from the Chin Progressive Party, an ethnic-based
opposition party in Chin State, along the border with India, conceded
defeat Monday to a candidate from Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party.
“It is unbelievable,” she said. “Chin voters don’t even know who they voted for. They only know the Lady.”
One
of the victors in the election, U Than Nyunt, said Ms. Aung San Suu
Kyi’s star power was a major factor in his win over Mr. Shwe Mann. Ms.
Aung San Suu Kyi was treasured as a symbol of defiance against the
generals and the poverty that has plagued Myanmar even as its neighbors
have become more wealthy.
“The
people’s message to us is that they want change and they don’t want to
live in these circumstances anymore,” Mr. Than Nyunt said.
In
a country fractured by ethnic divisions and riddled with corruption,
drug trafficking and destitution, expectations for the next government
are perhaps implausibly high. But this has not stopped outpourings of
joy.
“I
haven’t been able to eat anything since yesterday because I’m so
happy,” said Daw Than Than Htay, a supporter of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s
party. “This is going to change everything in our country.”
Although jubilation was widespread, it was not ubiquitous. Hundreds of thousands of voters from the Rohingya Muslim minority were struck from voter rolls
and not allowed to vote on Sunday. The plight of the Rohingya, who are
not recognized as citizens, is one of the many thorny issues awaiting
the next government.
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